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LAY BIN FOR DRAGONS. PLUS A BOUNS! Dragons laying, babies hatching GOOD stuff here

dragonluver83

dragonluver83

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I have been having a high volume of e-mails about "lay bins" what should i put her in? how big of a lay bin? should i put a lay bin in the cage? what kind of soil? sand, vermiculite any thing else? how much depth (of soil) does she need?

So i was going to put up a few pictures of a lay bin and how i have mine setup. And as i was doing so i had a hypo het trans female that was ready to lay. So i have some extra pics for you!!:D

As you can see from the pictures on how much soil i use and high deep it is and what kinda lay bin setup i have. Also i keep the soil on a slant. it has work best for me is i do it this way. 75% or more of the time the female digs right into the slanted area. ( the soil i use is the expandable forest bedding or exo-earth.. No i dont like sand. it will scratch up the females snout, forearms, and feet. i have personally done it. its just like sand paper this stuff is much more forgivable) The soil is not soaking wet... Its between damp and wet. (if that makes sense) no water should be dripping from your hand when you have a hand full. Even if you give it alittle squeeze. NO dripping water Two things that are not pictured that are important. There is a heat pad kept on the bottom of the lay bin. this keeps and warm and produces humidity. which brings in the other part. when your dragon is not in the lay bin you should keep the regular normal lid (no holes with secure latch) on the top to keep the moisture in. It works great. And when you start seeing dry soil on the top add very little water and mix the bottom really well with the soil on top.
 
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More pics

Here the female is done and packing here nest.. I pull out EVERY female when there done laying and put them in a tub of water.. the get to re-hydrate and take a bath. as she is doing that i am trying to remember where she layed her clutch. :shrug01: but i found them and moved them to there container and put them in there incubator.
 
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Yes more pics. i took the time atleast look at them..:)

20 fertile eggs..(M) HYPO leatherback X (F) Hypo het translucent.

I stuck her back in her cage with her cage mate for a snack.(super worms) she was only interested in one but it should be offered. And the next three or four days her cage mate pictured should be in the same bin doing the same thing!:D
that cross is a, (M) double het leatherback X (F) hypo -translucent.

For the ones that asked i hoped this helped you. For the ones that already knew hope you found this to be some what interesting.

ANYONE else that has extra info or that would like to add to this thread please do so.
 
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Hey Tom, great pictures man.

One thing I've been wondering that I didn't find in your post (or, maybe I missed it in your post?)... I've read to not "turn" the eggs when moving them from the lay bin to the incubator. Whenever I read that, i'm not which which way of "turning" they are talking about, on a "Y-axis" or "X-axis" type turn?
 
That is not true...you can move the eggs without worrying if you are just getting them from the lay box into the incubating box. I would only be more careful if some days have elapsed and then you should try to move them according to the way they are laid.. I take mine out pretty much the way they are laid but it's not possible when they are stacked,even some of them on their ends or being scattered about as you dig them up.
 
blissful88 said:
Hey Tom, great pictures man.

One thing I've been wondering that I didn't find in your post (or, maybe I missed it in your post?)... I've read to not "turn" the eggs when moving them from the lay bin to the incubator. Whenever I read that, i'm not which which way of "turning" they are talking about, on a "Y-axis" or "X-axis" type turn?
Click to expand...

angie.h said:
That is not true...you can move the eggs without worrying if you are just getting them from the lay box into the incubating box. I would only be more careful if some days have elapsed and then you should try to move them according to the way they are laid.. I take mine out pretty much the way they are laid but it's not possible when they are stacked,even some of them on their ends or being scattered about as you dig them up.
Click to expand...

I will have to go with Angie. when your pulling them outta the bin after the female layed the eggs you dont have to "dot" the top of the egg.

For instance, your looking for the clutch of eggs and you find them as your putting them in a bin to go into the incubator. You come across a egg that is standing on end! what do you do? I usually lay the end to what ever side it was leaning to when i found it. and if the egg is straight up and down i just pick a side to lay it on.

Once the egg has settled for a few days, def. dont turn it then. i havent turned them before to find out what happens, i have just heard it kills them. So its something i dont mess with to much.

BUT alittle secret. when 60 - 65 days has went by and i am thinking they should be hatching soon. i have done a 15% turn to a egg or two. and sometimes, they have been know to hatch alittle sooner. Also Another little tib bit. When your dragons are kept in a bin (like i keep mine) they start hatching and some people are fast to take them out and put them in there cage. Well if you leave that baby in there for alittle while. it walks on the other eggs. that kinda motivates the others to start moving around and start hatching. so sometimes it can take a entire clutch a week to hatch. but if you leave the hatched baby in the container they can all hatch within 24-48 hrs. I experimented with that 2 years ago. and it seems to work every time. If you dont believe me give it a shot.
 
:iagree:
If you turn the egg a couple of weeks later it will drown the embryo inside, but right away the only thing inside the egg is goo and veins. I don't now if youo saw a tv program or something were they were collecting alligator eggs but they mark the tops because they don't know how they have been incubating for, but we reptile breeders do know
 
mmdragons said:
:iagree:
If you turn the egg a couple of weeks later it will drown the embryo inside, but right away the only thing inside the egg is goo and veins. I don't now if youo saw a tv program or something were they were collecting alligator eggs but they mark the tops because they don't know how they have been incubating for, but we reptile breeders do know
Click to expand...

The t.v. show was "Dirty Jobs". and it was alligator farmers. and they were marking the top of the egg with a bingo stamper thing-e. cant remember what there called.:eek: my g-mom would be upset!
 
female leather laying

So today my female leather het hypo laid her eggs. 16'' long and was at 398 grams before she laid. I use a similar setup to toms but i use a mixture of potting soil to sand 80/20 seems to work great. My female took the lazy route and just picked a corner and just laid a nice 25 - 2 bad ones. But tom has a great method of doing what he does and i always like to hear about different ways to do things. Thanks tom for the extra hints on the lay bins it helped.
 
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crazycoolpaul said:
So today my female leather het hypo laid her eggs. 16'' long and was at 398 grams before she laid. I use a similar setup to toms but i use a mixture of potting soil to sand 80/20 seems to work great. My female took the lazy route and just picked a corner and just laid a nice 25 - 2 bad ones. But tom has a great method of doing what he does and i always like to hear about different ways to do things. Thanks tom for the extra hints on the lay bins it helped.
Click to expand...

Good stuff Paul.:thumbsup:
It maybe not be the lazy route. some dragons i noticed dig and burrow until there comfortable to lay there eggs and some dragons dont need to be hidden in a burrow. they just dig like yours dig and covers the clutch when finished. I tend to like dragons like that. i let them cover there eggs half way and pull them out and put them in the tub. It makes it easier on you when your collecting the eggs. You know exactly where they are and you do have to dig for them.

Any other breeders that got any females in the lay bin??? Love to see some pics:yesnod:
 
Allen X dachiu laying

Thanks Tom!

Here is another way i learned from rob dachiu's site.I made a cage dedicated for a lay bin using the Exo-Earth you had mentioned, i set the substrate up with a hole already started and she started digging in different places till she just decided to lay right on top. Allen X dachiu laying
 
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crazycoolpaul said:
Thanks Tom!

Here is another way i learned from rob dachiu's site.I made a cage dedicated for a lay bin using the Exo-Earth you had mentioned, i set the substrate up with a hole already started and she started digging in different places till she just decided to lay right on top. Allen X dachiu laying
Click to expand...

lol, if i have a cage better believe there would be a dragon living in it before i turn it into a lay bin...
 
Hey Paul another thing, looking at your soil it looks to be alittle dry. maybe another reason why she dug out the corner instead of a tunnel. it doesnt look like it would hold a tunnel shape without collapsing on her. but i can see the lose soil and it looks to be lighter and dryer. Just a thought.
 
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